Window-blind hinge.



PATENTED MAY 26,

B E. BYRD.

WINDOW BLIND HINGE.

APPLICATION FILED 001". 23,1907.

atto'uwigo UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFlCE.

BRITTON E. BYRD, or DURHAM, NORTH oARoLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF To ROBERT L.

sTRowD, or CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA.

WINDOW-BLIND HINGE.

Specification of Letters Patent. 1

Patented May 26, 1908.

Application filed October 23, 1907. Serial No. 398,841.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BRITToN E. BYRD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Durham, in the county of Durham and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful VVindow-Blind Hinge, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a hinge designed primarily for application to window blinds, but the use thereof is not to this purpose alone.

The object of the invention is to produce a simple, cheap and reliable lock hinge for holding fixed in open position, window blinds and other hingeable articles which may,

when desired, be closed from the inside with great ease.

Another object of invention in connection with the above relates to the means for locking the two parts in open position Without lifting bodily the blind which is the common method at the present time.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of two hinges attached to the top and bottom part of a window blind. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of a window and window blind, the latter in open position, with a connecting hinge between the parts.

Similar reference characters are used on all the figures to designate the same parts.

The window frame A shows hanging there in a window blind B by means of hinges 0, two of which are represented. The hinges C are all alike so a description of one will serve for the others. Each hinge 0 comprises two leaves or members 1 and 2 screwed respectively to the window frame A and the blind B. The leaf 1 is composed of a vertical plate 3 lying flat against the frame A, through which the fastening screws pass, and a horizontal plate 4 having an elliptical opening 5 in the center. The opening is slightly less in width than the plate 4 in which the pintle of the member2 turns.

The leaf or member 2 consists of a vertical plate formed by an offset 6 into two sections in different planes but of uniform width from the outer end to near the other or inner end 7, which end 7 is ornamentally finished to suit the taste and is fastened to the rear edge of the blind B by screws 8. The leaf or member 2 outside of the offset 2 extends in front of the plate 3' of the leaf or member 1 about one half its width. A pintle 9 finished with a rearwardly extending hook 10 is formed on each outer corner of the member 2. The pintle and hook at the top and bottom edge of the member 3 is formed by removing from the leaf 2 at the proper place on the top and bottom edges, suitable sections of metal of the shape indicated by the notches 11, which begin at the ofisets 2. The outer edge of the horizontal late 4 is curved slightly, the length of said p ate being about the width of the vertical plate 3. The horizontal plate 4 has a notch 12 in each corner to receive the upper and lower ends 13 of the offset 2 when the window blind is opened. It is to be observed that one half of each leaf or member is an exact duplicate of its other half, so that a hinge may be used for a right or left upper or lower, or in an intermediate position.

When a blind is to be hung, it is held in the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, with the pintles and their attached hooks above the openin s 5 into which oppnings the hooks and pint les enter when the lind is lowered. The blind may be opened and closed, and as the openings are narrower crosswise of the plates 4, there is no danger of the blind. becoming unhinged when in a half opened position. When the blind swings to open position the shape of the openings 5 will tend to draw the pmtles inwardly and cause the offsets 2 to enter the notches 12 on the outside of the plates 4 and the .plates 2 to lie close to the plate 3, forming a firm connection but one which may be easily released by an endwise movement of the blind before an attempt is made to close it. When the blind is closed, the outer section of the mem her 2 will, by reason of the offset 2 set away from the member 1.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A hinge comprising a fixed leaf having a horizontal plate with an opening therethrough, and a swinging leaf attached at one end to a moving member and having a pintle and hook on each outer corner, the lower of which pintles turn in said opening.

2. A hinge comprising a fixed leaf having a horizontal plate with a central 0 ening therethrough, and a swinging leaf divi ed by an offset into two parts in different but parallel planes, and a pintle and hook on each outer corner of the swinging member, each pintle capable of swinging in said opening.

3. A hin e comprising a fixed leaf having I a horizonta plate with an opening in the cenl ter narrower crosswise than lengthwise, and a notch in each end of said plate, and a swinging member having each outer corner formed with a pintle and hook, either pintle adapted to swing in said opening, a second portion of said swinging member separated from the first by an offset, 1 the weight of the blind l causing said offset to engage a notch when 10 the hinge is wholly open.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

BRITTON E. BYRD. Witnesses T. C. WVORTH, THOS. B. JAooBs. 

